ABC SEEKING $400M EXTENSION WITH BCS? EARLY BOWL NUMBERS

ABC is reportedly offering the Bowl Championship Series
(BCS) a four-year contract extension worth "about" $400M,
according to Scott Newman of BLOOMBERG NEWS. A "high-
ranking college athletic official" said that the BCS "could
wait until August" to consider ABC's offer, but will
"probably unveil an agreement with ABC by April." Newman
noted the contract extension "would probably ensure that
major college football couldn't decide its national champion
with a playoff until 2006." But ISL Exec VP Jim Wheeler,
whose company is seeking a national playoff format, is
"working on a last-ditch proposal he hopes to present" to
the BCS and athletic directors later this month. Wheeler
said that he will propose an eight-team format that would
include a total payout of at least $1B (BLOOMBERG NEWS,
1/3). Wheeler: "When [BCS Chair] Roy Kramer says he's not
going to let a foreign company run the football
championship, that doesn't bother me. I don't want to run
it. I want to be a commercial partner" (USA TODAY, 12/31).
USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke noted the $400M figure will
increase ABC's annual payments to the BCS 27% from the
current $78.57M to $100M. ABC Sports Dir of PR Mark Mandel
"declined comment" on the report (USA TODAY, 1/3).
BUT ARE THE FANS SHOWING UP? Attendance at 21 of
college football's 24 bowl games "dipped on average from a
year ago, most notably on New Year's Day." Attendance for
the bowl games played prior to Sunday's Fiesta Bowl,
excluding the first-year Mobile Alabama bowl, "averaged
52,448, down slightly from 53,372 a year earlier." But the
six games played New Year's Day averaged 64,876 fans, a
"startling" 10.5% drop from last year's average of nearly
72,500. Peach Bowl President Gary Stokan: "They're getting
no coverage outside the areas their (participating) teams
represent." But USA TODAY noted that overall attendance is
"virtually unchanged" from the "pre-BCS" '97 season (USA
TODAY, 1/3). In K.C., Blair Kerkhoff reported that none of
the four New Year's Day bowl games held in FL "filled the
stadium." While the Cotton Bowl "was filled to capacity"
and the Fiesta Bowl "was sold out," the Rose Bowl, "which
was listed as a sellout," drew its "smallest crowd" since
'55 with 93,731. The Gator Bowl drew 43,416, its smallest
crowd since '58, while the Orange Bowl drew 54,866, 20,000
short of capacity (K.C. STAR, 1/2). In Miami, Linda
Robertson reported that the "bowl glut needs to be
addressed" (MIAMI HERALD, 1/2).